Rafha, The Arabian oryx is distinguished by its wide eyes and dark face stripes and hooves. It boasts long, sturdy horns measuring up to 70 cm in length and broad hooves that facilitate movement on soft sand.
This Arabian oryx inhabits desert and semi-desert areas across the Arabian Peninsula, Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt.
The Imam Turki bin Abdullah Royal Nature Reserve houses a number of Arabian oryx and works to protect and increase their population, ensuring the conservation of natural life and safeguarding endangered species.
As part of programs to reintroduce endangered species into their natural habitats, in February 2022 several herds of Arabian Oryx were released in the reserve, which witnessed the first birth of an Arabian oryx in April the same year.
Other species were released later, such as Al-Reem deer, and red-necked ostrich, in an effort to relocate endangered animals, restore their role in their environment, promote their reproduction, and contribute to environmental balance a
nd sustainability.
These efforts are all part of the Imam Turki bin Abdullah Royal Nature Reserve Development Authority’s initiatives to raise community awareness, protect biodiversity, and establish the sanctuary as a sustainable tourism destination rich in environmental and biological diversity.
The reintroduction and natural reproduction of the Arabian oryx in these areas represent an environmental achievement.
It is a milestone that contributes to environmental equilibrium, biodiversity enrichment, and the conservation of a species that had vanished from the region for decades due to environmental pressures, overhunting, and vegetation loss.
Source: Saudi Press Agency